Montana State Flower (Floral Emblem)

Bitterroot

(Lewisia rediviva)

Adopted on February 27, 1895 .

The bitterroot, (Lewisia rediviva,) was adopted on
February 27, 1895 as Montana state flower, a beautiful purplish-pink flower.

Delegates to the 1889 Montana Women's Christian
Temperance Union, meeting in Missoula, selected a "little blue flower that grows near the snow banks" as the WCTU's official state flower. Two years
later, sentiment arose for change and the bitterroot received the WCTU's designation. A perennial, the bitterroot has an exquisite pink blossom which
grows close to the ground and its delicate shadings offer the eye one of the loveliest of wildflowers.

Montana State Flower: Bitterroot

History of the Bitterroot

The bitterroot (Lewisia Rediviva) was a logical historical choice. In 1805, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark "discovered" the plant in the western
Montana valley that now bears its name.

Long before explorers Lewis and Clark wrote about the beautiful purplish-pink flower of the bitterroot, Native Americans were using its roots for
food and trade. Tribes dug up the roots and dried them so they could be kept and used for months. The root was too bitter to eat unless it was cooked,
and it was usually mixed with berries or meat. An Indian story tells how the bitterroot came to be. It says the sun heard a mother crying because she
couldn't find food for her family. The sun changed her tears into the bitterroot so she would always have food for her children. You can find the bitterroot
growing near the mountains and boulders of western Montana in spring and summer. Mice love its leaves and seeds.

A decade before the Spanish American War colored Montana's seal, a more subdued movement began to add beauty and a mild fragrance to Montana's list
of symbols.

Montana's Indians used it as an important part of their diet. Tribes timed their spring migrations with the blooming of the bitterroot on the gravel
river bars and hillsides. Dug, cleaned, and dried, the root provided a lightweight, nutritious supplement to a wild-game diet. At major trading centers
like The Dalles, the root was an item of barter and exchange. A sack full commanded a substantial price-usually a horse.

One ounce of dried root provided sufficient nourishment for a meal, but the plant was seldom eaten raw, for its bitter taste and resultant swelling
caused great discomfort. More traditionally, Indian women boiled the root, then mixed it with meat or berries. Pulverized and seasoned with deer fat
and moss, the cooked root could be molded into patties and carried on hunting expeditions or war parties.

With a strong Indian heritage and a name derived from the leader of the Lewis and Clark expedition, the bitterroot was most appropriate as a state
symbol. In their contribution to the 1893 Columbia Exposition, Butte residents used the flower as the central figure on a large silver shield. That
same year, in response to a national WCTU program, Mrs. Mary Long Alderson of Bozeman began efforts to secure legislative designation for the bitterroot
as Montana's state flower.

Mary Alderson was the heart of the state flower movement in Montana. In January of 1894, she formed and headed Montana's Floral Emblem Association.
County and community committees followed, as did floral meetings in most major cities and towns. The association set a state-wide referendum for fall.
Interested men and women registered in their respective counties. Mrs. Alderson's committee then sent out a ballot to each registrant. Ballots had
to be completed and returned by September 1, 1894.

Montana's press joined in the effort. Columns described the cause and the floral candidates. Editorials advocated this flower or that. When the
polls closed, 5,857 ballots were in. More than 32 separate flowers received votes. The winner (with 3,621 votes) was the bitterroot, followed by the
evening primrose (787 votes) and the wild rose (668). At Mrs. Alderson's urging, the 1895 Legislature responded to public preference and sanctioned
the symbol.

Before long the delicate petals of the bitterroot graced stationery, posters, silverware, and even special sets of double damask Irish linen. The
major credit for the addition of the bitterroot to Montana's list of official symbols belongs to Mary Long Alderson.

Identification of the Bitterroot

Perennial with flowers that are rose-pink, and 2 inches across in May and. June. It has narrow, red-green leaves that form basal rosette in early
spring. The leaves die back in June. Plants are located from British Colombia to San Bernardino Mountains to Rocky Mountains. The plant is not alkali
tolerant, and needs good drainage. The peeled, boiled root may be eaten, and the plant protect from birds until established. It is an excellent showy
plant at higher elevations or in the East. It has a tendency to rot in the winters at lower elevations because of wet conditions.

Flowers: Bitterroots white to pinkish flowers, each about two inches across appear to be leafless. But the fleshy, one to two inch leaves
appear before the flowers in early spring, soon after the snow melts. They wither away by the time the flowers bloom, generally in early June. One
flower per scape; 4 to 9 sepals; 10 to 19 petals, 18 to 35 mm, white to rose colored; 40 to 70 stamens

Blooms: May to June

Leaves: Basal, thick, succulent; without margins of flattening of top and bottom surfaces; leaves either present at anthesis or withering
and drying by then

Plant: Perennial. Traditionally the roots were peeled, then cooked and eaten, or dried for future use by the Coeur d'Alene, Kutenai, Okanagon-Coville,
Okanagon, Sanpoil, Shuswap, Spokan, and Thompson.